Anti Fed Ed Warriors, we’re quickly approaching a new school year (2017-18). It’ll be another year of contention for those who are dead-set against the CCSS Machine.

Over the summer, many of us have continued to chip away at the facade of how ‘local’ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) is and the true identity of the global, UN (United Nations) grasp over our federal government’s adherence to the modern education reform.

Would You Know What the Global CCSS Machine Values Are?

Warriors, did you know that the UN has ROI (Return on Investment) formulas for education? These formulas, of course will include assessements (tests), teaching, and other factors. However, it’s not the student who will come out the winner, but the businesses AND economy which will reign supreme in education. Why? Workforce based, skilled citizens. If the UN has such, we can ‘bet the bank’ the USA does, too.

Needed Background Information:

For example, back in 2014, I wrote an article about a local meeting which laid out the intersecting of the working world, politicians, and education. Oh, and, yes, the business world was represented by the State level Chamber of Commerce. Look below for a sample of what I shared then.

To see and read the rest of the article, go here. If you’ve not seen how the P3s (public private partnerships) influence your local education system, visit here.

Warriors, we must remember, P3s are increased in power, thanks to ESSA. Globally speaking, their power is enormously strong, as well. The SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) provide the way for this across the globe.

Here, in America, a series of federally passed laws provide the way. Chief among them are: ESSA, WIOA, HEA, the STEM Act, and many more. If you missed how the P3s are running higher education as a ‘return on investment’ for the economy, check out my 2015 article where you’ll see your students on a wheel.

Also, Warriors, keep in mind, the big corporations are not the only investors in ‘education’. The SBA (Small Business Administration) is knee-deep in the alignment/investing ploy, too. These will be the more ‘local’ overreaches you see today.

Warriors, we know of plenty of American career tracking, but what about the international career tracking and/or skill based tests? Are there any? Of course!
Back in March 2017, I shared with you the ties between American and the PIAAC (Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies). This test measures our adults (and thus, teachers, education leaders) and their ‘value’ to the economy.

Your Global Worth?

So, how does all this tie to the UN’s SDGs?! Watch the short video below. It features a school leader (early 2017) explain ‘rigor’ in the global scheme of things. While I listened to this man, I heard so many words with very little meaning. (A classic tool of the CCSS Machine) This school is an American school (Ranney School in NJ. It’s an independent school which is a UN partner school. Ranney School also is con-joined with Monmouth University as another UN partner school.

Warriors, did you catch the ‘innovation’ plugs? Did you hear the ‘what’s taught’? The Tool Kit for teaching the SDGs is full of how to teach to manipulate values, beliefs, and attitudes. (*Note, when you access the article, you can also get to the entire 142 page Tool Kit. Simply click on the phrase ‘tool kit’ in the section beginning with “From 2002..”)

How did I find out about the NJ schools and their UN partnerships? Their project is being tracked in real time by the UN itself! If you’d like to see the entire results, go here.
Be sure to look for the ‘measured outcomes’ of the project.

If you’d like to see more about this from Ranney’s media, I urge you to access it here.
If you’d like to see and learn more about the Global Citizen Signature Program which is also a part of the Ranney School, click here. Look below for a screen shot:

Is the Ranney School exclusive in the US as a UN partner? Hardly. It’s simply an example for this article. According to the UN’s SDG Initiative Tracking website, there are 524 other global education partnerships in progress right now. If you’d like to see them, find them here. However, remember, Warriors, education is the preferred ‘change agent’ so the alignment in education will be in ALL 17 goals for SD (Sustainable Development), not simply one.

A Big Clue:

As far as anyone’s worth in the current education takeover/reform? It’s not what you know, it’s how you work. Listen to the job forecast in the video below:

Warriors, you can access the article which is to accompany this video. You’ll want to make note of their mention of the U.S. Dept. of Labor (and others). Remember, EVERY Cabinet level agency is in on the CCSS Machine’s workforce shift. Why? As an active SDG Resolution signing country, we must shift education. Look below at the website I found on the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s website:

How the OCED* (Organization for Cooperation in Economic Development) rates ‘returns on investment’ in education. This 2009 Report looks at student outcomes and the cost of educating people. (*Note: OCED is a partner via the Global Compact of the UN.)

This un-dated World Bank “education return on investment” shows how education and growth for economics should be a hand-in-hand process.

UNICEF (a part of the UN), in their 2015 Report, stress a hefty return on investment via education of up to 30%.

How the USA rates ‘returns on investment’ in education can be found on the website “U.S. Global Leadership Coalition”.
The member organizations and corporations for the US GLC include some of the biggest CCSS Machine groups. Find them here.

What CCSS Machine member groups give money to the U.S. GLC? Look below for a few of them:

Closing:

Back in 2016, MarketWatch’swebsite suggested we ‘moneyball’ education. Maybe they read ESSA better than those who voted on it. Moneyballing is exactly what will be happening more and more in American classrooms of all ages. We can also expect those bankrolling education will have many strings in the way education is conducted. Expect more of a business, not a labor of love, Warriors.

Do the better ‘thing’, the ‘smarter than the global-UN/US thing’: Don’t send your students back to school! Hug them instead, talk with them about their TRUE value and worth. It is beyond ANY amount of money!

Recently, Warriors Against Fed Ed, I was looking through my State’s Legislative website. I thought I’d seen enough of the proposed bills linking NC (where I live) to the ESSA’s (Every Student Succeeds Act) overreach in state education. (*Note: if you missed that article )

However, there was one I missed. It’s called the “BRIGHT Futures Act”. It’s from the NC Senate, and is also S56. My fellow anti CCSS Warrior, Andrea Dillon, shared news and video of this Bill on the “American Lens” Facebook page. In the video, our Lt. Governor is waxing joyously about how a “Last Mile” for NC is about to be reached. What is he referring to?

Digital Connectivity and how it will help Rural Education

“Digital Connectivity” ties rural education to the CCSS Machine through aligned workforce based education as laid out in ESSA, HEA (Higher Education Act), and WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act).“Digital Connectivity” was also a huge portion of the U.S. House of Representative’s HR5 (Student Success Act).
I laid all this out for you in my previous article titled “ESSA and Digital Overload”. That article also helps us connect Rural Education to HR5 and “NC New Schools”. (*Note: the NC New Schools will lead to you to other States with rural education populations.)

You may recall, HR5 was the House’s version to re-authorize ESEA of 1965 (Elementary and Secondary Education Act). As a compromise, big parts of HR5 were taken and added to the U.S. Senate’s version of ESEA’s re-authorization, called “Every Child Achieves Act”, or S1177.

As we now know, S1177 is the Bill which survived and changed its name to ESSA to reflect all that ‘bi-partisan’ work from Congress.

The digital mandates are now coming to fruition. Conveniently completed from a State level with Bills such as “Bright Futures”.

Pausing For A Bit Of Reference:

Before we go on finding out how NC’s S65 is helping ESSA ‘set up shop’ in NC, let me say that I have no idea how many States have similar legislation. I have no clue how many NC State Leaders are pushing for all the ‘digital connectivity’ items they can get their hands on. However, I do know, that our State has a long history on jumping on the ‘fed ed’ bandwagon several times.

That NC has jumped on this bandwagon is no shocker. Why? NC was the first State to jump on board with Microsoft through their Microsoft IT Academy.

As we know, Microsoft is a huge digital, CCSS Machine organization. We know Bill Gates is Microsoft’s ‘guy’. We also know Gates is the one who signed an agreement with UNESCO for a one world curriculum, which grew into the CCSSI (Common Core State Standards Initiative). We see the CCSSI in the pages of ESSA, too. Literally.*Note: In ESSA, we also see the name change from “CCSS” (Common Core State Standards) to its less ‘vile’ name, ‘College and Career Readiness’. ESSA’s writers like to use that phrase. Along with the even more innocent sounding “Challenging State Academic Standards”. ESSA’s writers also threw in the ‘Career Technical Education (CTE)’ phrase.

So, what have Microsoft and NC been up to more recently than 2010? This short You Tube video (2013) will introduce you to the “Imagine Academy”.

In 2016, NC and Microsoft made the news in connection with the National Science Foundation’s (NSF)Big Data Regional Hubs. There are 4 of these Hubs across the USA. NC is in the Southern Hub. (*Note: NSF is also a huge CCSS Machine member organization.)

Back To The ‘BRIGHT Futures’:

Above you see a screen shot of the 4 page S65 Bill (BRIGHT Futures Act)

You’ll also see I added some emphasis to Page 1 of S65. These items are very important clues to those of us fighting federally led education in ALL age groups.

While the legislators promoting this Bill are calling this a great thing for NC, here are the parts they either left out by omission (assuming they have no idea how vast the CCSS Machine’s grip on workforce education is) OR by design.

a) P3s (Public-Private Partnerships) in education have created a disgrace to the classical, academic basis our students need.

b) Workforce based education, especially in adult populations ties back to WIOA and HEA, espically through the one-stop-job-centers here in NC. Called “NCWorks” it is a direct product of WIOAstate grant money awarded to NC. Why? WIOA grant money given to ANY State has an underlying purpose: using the job center data to ‘marry’ with the student data to create a seamless Career Tech/Career Pathway education! It is the ‘perfect’ setup. The student data, as we know, comes from the Dept. of Education; likewise, the job data comes from the Dept. of Labor. Both happen at the Federal level AND the State level!!

c) Making improvements in your State for better education/access to shouldn’t come about as a by-product of your economy. Those improvements should never place the importance of money over our students. Using a phrase like ‘all means necessary’ is also a big warning.

d) Governor appointed positions spell bad news for the State citizens, regardless of what Council or Committee it is. Special interests are vastly protected with these appointments.

e) Near the bottom of Page 1 (Line 27), “School Connectivity Initiative and Digital Learning Plan” are inserted. The SCI (School Connectivity Initiative) has been around a few years. Here’s what is does, “The NC School Connectivity Initiative (SCI) compliments the E-rate program in North Carolina by providing state funding to cover the non-discounted portion of school connectivity-related charges. The SCI also provides a statewide network connecting all LEAs and most charter schools to the Internet, E-rate training and support, and network engineering services.” Source: Page 18 of the NC Digital Learning Plan (*Note: E-Rates are those small charges on your phone bill. They, too, can be traced back to the CCSS Machine. E-Rates basically are funds used to data mine your students.) According to the NC Digital Plan, at the bottom of Page 18, it is revealed the E-rates used for NC are based on Free and Reduced Lunch Program.

The NC Digital Plan also is part of the CCSS Machine’s plan for continued alignment in education. How do I know this? CCSS Machine member, The Friday Institute, is the one which published the detailed Plan in 2015. Among the Plan’s pages is the factother States using Digital Learning Plans were used as models for NC. The roots for NC’s Digital shift in education go back to 1999. The CCSS Machine entered the digital push about the time Race to the Top surfaced.
To see and read the entire NC Digital Plan: nc-digital-learning-detailed-plan-9-14-15

“Innovation in Education: Students need access to modern technology to prepare them for a 21st century economy. Every student should have one-to-one devices (computers, laptops, tablets, etc.) in their North Carolina classroom. As Chairman of the Governor’s eLearning Commission and member of the State Board of Education’s Special Committee on Digital Learning, Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest is actively working to provide Wi-Fi access to every K – 12 classroom in the state. Though North Carolina leads the way in our effort to extend broadband Internet access to every public school, the next step is to expand that infrastructure to reach every public school classroom and put one-to-one devices in the hands of the students.”

I would urge any of you with proven research as to how digital devices are so dangerous in the hands of our youngest learners or how too much screen time is dangerous for any age student, to please contact the Lt. Governor and every one of the S65 Sponsoring Legislators.

If you missed why ‘school choice’ is an anti Fed Ed Warrior’sconflict:

As far as top-down digital legislation or programs containing digital learning and related to ESSA, or now codified within, America has:
Digital Promise
Digital Promise Neighborhoods
i3 Initiative
ConnectED
Digital Innovation Upgrades or Creations (at least $849 million in funding is ear-marked)
REAP (Rural Education Achievement Program) (Will impact Title One funding, use $1.6 billion in tax payer funds for ‘rigorous’ education including all technology, ramp up the STEM Master Corps, and more.)Community Schools (can also include 21st Century Community Learning Centers)

Closing:

So, pardon me, if I’m not seeing such a BRIGHT NC Future. What I do see is a NC committeed more to the federal government than to its citizens. I urge all of you who live in rural counties and states, use this article as an example of what is going on right under our noses to align everyone in education to the same thing!

1) John’s article refers to a 11/29/16 meeting where his county’s school board made a presentation. The reporter who was there gathered quite a bit of evidence from that meeting and published a separate article about the massive amounts of data (school related and not) being taken from students. (*Note: that article is worth reading as well. Find it: http://www.rgj.com/story/news/education/2016/11/29/security-student-information-called-into-question/94634484/ )

2) John is also the administrator of the Nevadans Against Common Core. As long as I’ve been sharing my research nationwide, his note about not only fighting Common Core, but the data mining reminds me how serious a Warrior he is.

3) “Infinite Campus” is the data mining tool of choice in all the NV school districts.

4) Google Apps of Ed, Edmodo, and Microsoft’s third party data collection and use is a big concern to many parents in John’s district. Good for them! Hold those leaders accountable, ask the tough questions and do not accept a non-responsive answer.

5) While Edmodo is ‘free’ to school districts, the money made to pay for it is based off the student data itself.

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The remainder of this article will be to look behind the curtains of the data collectors to see what more we need to learn and share.
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In a few words, we can see the reason is a streamlined track from kindergarten to college graduation for ‘post-secondary success’.

What we also need to know is that this particular district began data mining students back in 1998, well before all the ‘college and career’ or ‘post-secondary readiness’ cow-chip-education-reform-rhetoric. According to the document I found, it was determined (some time between 1998 and now) that such information was needed and a P-16 data tracking system (called the Education Alliance P-16 Council) was created. Below is what Washoe’s been up to since the Council was created. Note the CCSS Machine member group highlighted:

First, some quick facts: 1) NV is looked upon as a champion CTE (Career Tech Education). I am referring to a Sept. 21st, 2016 Education and Workforce Committee Hearing where the NV Superintendent of the Dept. of Public Education was a featured witness. See my article:https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2016/09/21/no-truer-words/

1b) While NV has not been awarded any WDQI (Workforce Data Quality Initiative) grant money yet, it DOES receive WIA (Workforce Investment Act) funding until 2020. The funding is used in a State-wide program called “NevadaWorks”. See the U. S. Dept. of Labor for the WDQI information on which States have been given grant money: https://www.doleta.gov/performance/workforcetechnicalassist.cfm“NevadaWorks”website: http://www.nevadaworks.com/

If you’re not sure what WDQI grant money does for your State, see below:

3) HEA (Higher Education Act, last updated in 2008) is also embedded in BOTHWIOA and ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). (See: https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/weekend-news-essas-untold-ties-to-hea/ )4) CTE is embedded in HEA. NV was one of the first grant recipients.See: https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2015/09/12/weekend-news-heads-up-higher-ed-cte-update/ )5) All 3: ESSA (formerly ESEA, Elementary and Secondary Education Act), WIOA, and HEA data collect, data mine, and use said data to streamline your student’s course load to fit a pre-determined career(aka: Career Pathways) and/or a college path, hence the need to switch the names FROMCommon CoreTOCollege and Career Readiness! (*Note: to see the 2015 WIOA/CTE Alignment PDF for all 50 States, 2015-06-Aligned-by-Design-WIOA-and-CTE )

6) With all the legislative unity AND the P3s unity, education remaining in its true form doesn’t stand a chance in NV,or, any other State!

Here’s an illustration of where all the data goes. While this was used in an article I published BEFOREHR5 (Student Success Act)and S1177 (Every Child Achieves) were combined to create the ESSA as we know it, the data mining hasn’t stopped. Each of these Depts. has 3rd party vendors as well…globally.:

While the 9 federal levels are easy to spot, look at the variety of other agencies which are not easy to identify as connected.

Put another way, below is the ‘talent pipeline’ illustration which will help you visualize what Johnny and Suzy are destined for in this data collected/shared and sold/aligned education era:

NV ranks right up there, in this effort, too. Back in 2015, the Reno area (the same area John lives in) was awarded big bucks, here’s an excerpt from the nation-wide grant winners announcement, “Board of Regents, Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), obo Truckee Meadows Community College – Reno, NV Truckee Meadows Community College was awarded a $2.2 million grant to fund the Northern Nevada College Apprenticeship Consortium. This consortium, which includes employers Tesla Motors and Panasonic will develop registered apprenticeship programs to increase the skills and career opportunities for 400 workers in the burgeoning advanced manufacturing sector in Northern Nevada.”(You can find the rest of the announcement in my article,https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2015/09/12/weekend-news-heads-up-higher-ed-cte-update/ )

Does your State have an Apprenticeship Council? Look below to see NV’s:

Infinite Campus information:1) Infinite Campus is headquartered in MN and has access to 7.8 million student’s data/information across 45 States. They are big on ‘personalized learning’ and ‘transforming education’. See their vision and goals, https://www.infinitecampus.com/company/vision-and-goals

1b) From the Infinite Campus’s news, this excerpt, ” Infinite Campus customers include school districts, regional consortia, state departments of education and the federal government.”

1c) If you wish to learn about Infinite Campus’s Statewide Data Collection:https://www.infinitecampus.com/products/state-edition (7 States so far are ‘on board’, KY, HI, MT, SD, ME, NV, and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education*)
*Not a State, obviously, but oversees all the education business of each of the Native American tribes.

Thanks, John, and the many like you who care about what is going on with our student’s data. I hope and trust what I’ve found and shared adds to your arsenal of information in fighting our War Vs the Core in NV and across America.

We’ve all had discussions about education. Some of these ‘talks’ are pretty easy; some others aren’t. With most of us back home and resuming our post-Thanksgiving lives, it is easy to think about what was said around the table.

My family is no exception. Most of the family’s offspring are up in age. A few, however, have little ones. By little I mean ’10 years and younger’. My most ‘in-depth’ education conversation wasn’t with one of the grown-ups. It was with a 7 year old.

Here’s what this child is experiencing daily in a summary form: “I got a new teacher when I went to my new school. I like this one much better because he gives me good colors. My old school teacher gave me bad colors. I don’t like the bad colors. She was mean.”

My heart still hurts when I recall his face and body language.

Warriors, I do not know about you, but this was something, no one, not even a Warrior Parent had shared. Since parents are being left out of education so much, these Warriorsmay not know about the ‘good color/bad color’ strategy in the classroom. Maybe they do and are fighting so hard against it, it’s assumed everyone knows.

It doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is looking at how this strategy is reshaping (literally) our children’s mindset.

Behind the Color Wheel, An Old Agenda Awaits:

Warriors, I found this example on Pintrest, along with hundreds of other color behavior management charts. Since I do not know exactly what school my young kinsman attends, I cannot access his school directly.
I did find his school district’s website. No mention about color controlled behavior management was available. (You can also find via an internet search how colors are replacing report cards. We know that in some States report cards and diplomas are being phased out totally.)

So, where’s the ‘agenda’? PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) While the screen shot you see above may or may not co-ordinate with the particular school district I’m referring to or not, the PBIS, thanks to ESSA, (Every Student Succeeds Act) is only going to get more invasive. An added ‘bonus’? The amount of money to be made by private companies which partner with schools. ESSA gives that opportunity many times in the Law.

Also from earlier this year, I shared with you how ESSA and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers were set (or, are being set in place) for whole family behavior managing. The agenda? If the entire family is on the same track, the student will have better success in life (aka: student achievement/student outcome).See: https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/ccss-machine-potpourri/

Related to what is happening NOW in behavior management, is this screen shot from a 2014 article I published which revealed to you the Behavior Standardsused in schools which aligned to Common Core.

You can see how the PBIS will fit into schools. It doesn’t matter what name the States use for educational standards, the behavior portions will remain in place and yet, will INCREASE in overreach!

From the school district information I found that the Positive Behavior uses not only colors (think a traffic light), BUT coins as rewards to use for ‘shopping’.

In this ‘new way’ of behaving, kids are taught that ‘fail’ doesn’t mean the opposite of ‘success’, as it is traditionally taught; no, it represents an ‘opportunity to try again’, ‘failing is another word for growing’, or ‘first attempt in learning’! Warriors, do you sense the importance of this shift?! (Do an Internet search for the images of these phrases, you’ll be surprised at the shift in traditional critical thinking.)

So, what is the school district I found using for PBIS?
It’s at every grade level; it uses Starbucks Rewards cards; weekly school ‘shopping’ trips;
colors as ‘good’ or ‘not good’ (‘bad’ is not an option); and, levels of keeping behaviors in line with every other student (for example: blue level or gold level, the higher the color, the more the responsibility).

It’s important to note that the school district is Greenville, SC. According to their website, they are SC’s largest school district and the 51st largest in the entire nation. They also are accredited by AdvancEd (a huge CCSS Machine member group which manipulates behavior.)

PBIS for older special needs students (self contained)? Greenville’s School District offers a specific teacher’s letter. In it PBIS is described as a “Behavior Management System”. The introduction states a Unique Learning System (a Standards based on-line curriculum) is also used. To see the traffic light/shopping trip plan for behavior: https://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/rms/syllabi/KellettSelfContained.pdfTo see the Unique Learning Systems SC Standards Base (College and Career Readiness Standards; code for Common Core State Standards): https://www.n2y.com/unique-learning-system/

What’s interesting is that Greenville’s School District AdvancED accreditation‘more information’ link is broken. However, I did find the information at the Greenville Economic Development Board’s website. (see: http://www.greenvilleeconomicdevelopment.com/greenville-county-schools.php )(*Note: AdvancEd is big into the the 2030 UN Agenda for an educated workforce. See:https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2016/08/31/this-is-our-choice/)

Why would school information be located at an economic website? The workforce agenda!!“College and Career Readiness” doesn’t just involve education, it arches over into jobs.
Jobs drive the local economy. ESSA and WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) use Career Tech Education and Career Pathways (sometimes Career Clusters). The Higher Education Act(HEA) also plays into this!

The Ultimate Goal for the students in Greenville School District (as well as a national goal we see playing out in ‘real time’)? The screen shot shows only a portion of the information. The entire 2 page brochure reveals the ‘building’ begins in Pre-school!

To access the brochure: https://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/Parents/docs/gradplus_brochure1611.pdfAs far as the “education evangelist”? He’s preaching innovation in education for the economy’s benefit! See for yourselves:

Closing:

Warriors

, we all are at risk of losing our students to the CCSS Machine’s workforce agenda. It doesn’t matter how young or old our students are. By using colors to encourage or discourage young minds, we condition them unjustly. By using music as cues to be ourselves and chat with others or not, we are restricting personalities. By showing instant gratification for ‘good’ behavior, we are seeing the entitlement programs increase in society.

What’s my little kinsman’s future?! Sadly, like all the rest of ours. A ‘color coded credential for work’ where we are all ‘bronze, silver, gold, or platinum’ workers…not free people with hopes and dreams.(see: https://commoncorediva.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/tech-thursday-just-say-no-to-nocc/)

So, the ‘education evangelist’ is truthful about one thing ‘who do I want to work for?’;
the rest of his message? An empty vat of lies.

For the last weekend in April (2016), I wanted to leave you with a few things every anti CCSS Warriorneeds to know about P3s (Public private partnerships). If you missed these, you can now find them in one place. If you haven’t gotten this information before, you now have some great tools to use.

Blasted P3s!

If you have followed my research long, you know that time and time again, the P3s keep showing up in the midst of the CCSS Machine and its grinding away at America. Like everything fed through the CCSS Machine, P3s and their intent is not good for education at all.

What once was to be a healthy relationship between government and the private sector has become a holy hell. Consider this: early P3 relationships concerning the private sector and schools were to BUILD the schools. That way the private sector could return to their private business and the schools could get on with teaching.

But in the shift to CBE (Competency Based Education) aka OBE, (Outcome Based Education) the private sector has done more than build the schools, they now help guide what is taught. Meanwhile the schools have appeared to have no problem selling our kids education out in the process.

In the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act), States will be awarded big bucks for allowing MORE P3s in our schools, not less. P3s will get to work with the LEAs (Local Education Agencies) to determine if a student is ready to proceed to the next grade level. (Page 137 of the ESSA Final Conference Report states this.)

Recently, while on a national webinar/conference call with a pro CCSS group concerned about the ESSA and civil rights, they brought up the fact that P3s were a great thing in schools. When I asked them about Page 137 and the mandate; how would the P3s be accountable; how could the P3s do the teacher’s job, they were stumped! I was told that while they didn’t have a good answer they certainly agreed P3s need to be vetted and deemed appropriate.

Warriors, do you see what an open-ended message the ESSA used in this instance? Do you see how fraught with alignment this leaves our States?! Consider the recent news that Planned Parenthood has now been given the green light to open offices directly in select schools across the country. (Source: http://associatedmediacoverage.com/planned-parenthood-announces-on-site-partnership-with-select-public-school-systems/ )

This is a blazing example of a P3 overreach. While it is supposed to be in high schools only, think about the fact our high schools are being redesigned (or already have been) and now include middle school age kids in the SAME buildings!! This means students younger than high school could now have access to the P3, CCSS agenda driven Planned Parenthood.

Please note, Planned Parenthood is not the only agenda driven group. There are plenty more. Ask yourselves, since ESSA has it that groups like this will help determine how ready for the next grade level your student is, HOW will they measure this?!

From the U.S. Dept. of Ed, the Promise Neighborhood Awards (will only be up to 2012, as 2013-14, no new awards were given. Also note that Promise Neighborhoods are codified in the ESSA and have an entire Section in the Law, see Section 4624; Others related to Promise Neighborhoods: Full Service Community Schools, Section 2465; 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Section 4001-42016. Each of these will also have P3 involvment/overreach):http://www2.ed.gov/programs/promiseneighborhoods/awards.html

While I provide the following as examples, please note that each named partner may also have other partners they work with and are NOT named. Regardless of how trustworthy the names of the partners/groups are, remember, this is all part of the purposed and planned overreach in the name of ‘student success’!

This Promise Neighborhood in MN is governed by a private council!!https://www.wilder.org/Community-Leadership/Saint-Paul-Promise-Neighborhood/Pages/Partnership-Council.aspx (Ask yourselves, what does this mean in an ESSA era? Will this type of governing replace current school boards, town councils, etc.?) Think I am nuts for suggesting this question? Remember the ESSA is written as an open-ended law in some of its parameters on purpose! Also, the mandate of student achievement wrap around services basically rubber stamps ANYTHING as long as it can be considered educational, a resource, or both.

From TX, A Promise Neighborhood’s Picture:(when you click to enlarge it, notice the tag line at the bottom)

From their Strategic Plan (2013-2107), the following excerpt, “EPN initiated its target setting process in November, 2013 prior to DOE/Urban Institute’s released of its target setting guidance. EPN’s process included thirteen community-wide meetings with over 200 individuals from the broader community and ten small-group meetings with over 50 individuals from specific workgroups (e.g., the Dual Generation Workforce Pipeline workgroup) or specific partnerships (e.g., Out of School Time providers, City Year, all SAISD campus principals and their teams). The process continued up until the submission of the Data Plan on March 31st, 2014.” To get the entire Plan, EPN-Strategic-Plan-to-Achieve-Results-2013-2017(*Note: you will need to know that Head Start is mentioned in this Plan. Head Start is also aligned to the CCSS Machine! Early Head Start is too. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Funding (used in many communities across America) is also aligned.)

I hope I have not confused you on the intent embedded in the ESSA and the P3s. They mean to ruin academic education and replace it with competency based, workforce purposed, social justice minded, and constricted paths for our students. While much is being said about P3s, the danger is what ISN’T being said and how it will be carried out thanks to the ESSA!

As I recently heard an author state about this kind of treatment in another country (I have paraphrased it):They (those in charge of government/education) do not kill you outright with guns and knives, they kill you daily by not allowing you to be who you were meant to be or doing what you want.

Ahh, another weekend. Time for a brief break from the working world for some of us. However, for those of us against Common Core, we’ve learned our work is still before us.We’ve learned that the WIOA of 2014, Common Core, Career Tech Education, Career Pathways, STEM, and American Apprenticeships are ALL not only part of the CCSS Machine, but part of WIOA as well. (WIOA stands for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014)

As I’ve done in the past, I’ll be using NC as the example from which you can use to see what’s up like it in your state.

The NCWorks Initiative:

Based on a plan by the Governor of NC, Pat McCrory, created by a group of state level authorities. Below is only 1 excerpt from the website. To see the rest of the Initiative’s purpose, visit: http://www.nccommerce.com/ncworks

“Governor Pat McCrory has a dedicated plan for workforce success. Throughout this year the Department of Commerce Division of Workforce Solutions, the North Carolina Commission on Workforce Development, the North Carolina Community College System and hundreds of dedicated employees will partner to make NCWorks. The focus is on one goal: connecting North Carolina jobs with North Carolina people through the efficient use of resources, streamlined customer service for citizens and businesses, alignment of programs and a consistent, cohesive strategy all under one name NCWorks.”

Funding for all this ‘one goal’ business? I’m so glad you asked. Look below:

That’s right from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act! (remember all the ‘shovel ready projects’ that was to bring? Remember all the other nightmares we have now due to the ARRA’s funding?) The flowchart above is from 2010. However, let me point out:
1) this is just the Workforce funding, other funds from the ARRA have been placed in several other related categories. The biggest went to the NC Dept. of Commerce. ‘Oddly’ enough, all the fund reports EXCEPT the Commerce‘s report, are available for you to access. See: http://www.nccommerce.com/research-publications/recovery-programs-funding
So, knowing the Workforce alignment is going on as we speak; knowing we can trace the funding, where should you look in your state for such activities?
1) The Chamber of Commerce(state and local levels)
2) the local workforce development boards, the state workforce development agencies
3) tourism departments and agriculture commissions
4) economic development boards, offices, or projects (NC has one called “Thrive NC”, chock full of community-workforce-education alignment)
See: http://www.thrivenc.com/whync/education (here you’ll find the NC New Schools (very CCSS aligned) the Gates Foundation, the Career/College Promise (which is the CCSS/CTE bridge I’ve previously written about), you see the SAT and other assessments, you’ll see Smart Start and more)
5) educational partners (especially in the post-secondary institutions) If you’re not sure about which educational partners you’ll need to look into, try the “ThriveNC” document where it’s all laid out: Thrivencreport
6) any regional or city-to-city partnerships your state has.
These are all the places you’ll find ARRA funds; Workforce education aligned to CCSS and all under the guise of ‘collective communities’.
7) Look into your state laws/statutes. Here in NC, there are several which are in place already and some which will be re-written to further support all this alignment. For example, NC General Statute 150B-21.3A (adopted in 2013) lays out all the rules for ‘streamlining’ the ‘creation of jobs’ in NC.

Warriors: if we ignore the rules of government on a state and local level which cater to the CCSS Machine, we’re doomed! We must look into our state laws and demand the citizens be heard. You’ve seen the evidence that more folks are against the CCSS than are for it. If we don’t attack the CCSS Machine on all fronts, we’re going to continue to see our nation suffer! CCSS is NOT just for K-12.
8) Below you’ll see the “NC Prosperity Zones”, check to see if your state has a similar zoning map. (This is key to our anti CCSS battle as much of the re-authorization efforts for the ESEA 1965 (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) via HR5 (Student Success Act), S1177 (Every Child Achieves Act) and the HEA (Higher Education Act), ALL have ‘poverty’; ‘less fortunate’; or ‘disadvantaged youth’ included in the language of these bills in several places.)

Set up for the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’?! Could this be another kind of segregation our nation is gearing up for?! Think about it.

So, Where’s the CCSS, CTE? I Don’t See Them:

Up to this point, you’ve not seen anything in documented proof which states the Career Tech Education (or any of its other names) or CCSS is specifically tied to the WIOA, NCWorks, or the ARRA funds. So, where are the CTE/CCSS/Career Pathways, etc. hiding?
Look into this set of slides from the NCWorks Career Pathways Conference: NCWorks Pathways Conference Slides_MB
When you look into it, be sure to note that the “NC Prosperity Zone Map” is also included.

Another place you need to look in your state: The current WIOA funds awarded to each state for ‘job creation’
1) the businesses receiving funding to help in the job creation/education ‘marriage’.
2) WIOA funds are being treated much like the Race to the Top funding, in that states can apply for funds to streamline education/workforce, jump through several hoops, have to supply certain amounts of data of every participant, and help the CCSS/CTE agenda along at the same time. Below is a screen shot of the application’s portion for data collection/mining:

A brief look at a 2015-16 application for funds to continue Workforce activities.

Want more Career Pathways proof? Here’s a document which gave NC $5.25 million for Career Pathways for the disadvantaged: https://www.nccommerce.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Pv4HMQ0y8Gs%3d&tabid=3697&mid=8957The ‘catch’ for any disadvantaged participant? They MUST have a Career Readiness Certificate. (CRCs are CCSS/CTE aligned) You can find the CRC requirement on pages 3 and 4 of the above document. Oh, by the way, NC will award business for their participation in these programs. The CP for disadvantaged comes with a $150,000.00 ‘incentive’!

The NCWorks Partnership Conference:

This ‘smooze fest’ of CCSS/CTE/Career Pathway enthusiasts is set for October 28-30, 2015.
Here’s a large portion of what attendees will be able to learn:••Align4NCWorks: Collaborative Planning = GreaterCollective Impact••The Skills Employers Want from College Grads••NCWorks Goes to College! Forging the Workforce &Adult Education Partnership••Federal Workforce Development Policy: What’sHappening & What’s Next••Regional Economic Development Collaboration:Project New York (CBC Americas)••Hit a Home Run! New Tools for Career Planners••NC Youth Apprentice Panel••Industry Recognized Credentials: Aligning Trainingto Workforce Needs••NCWorks Online for Staff••Lateral Thinking Skills: Developing a New Breed ofLeaders